Fascinating, insightful book. Ferguson argues that not only is Western Civilization the greatest civilization in the history of the world, but that it has no need to apologize for itself, a view that may seem obvious to some but that has come under attack in recent years. He argues that the West developed five “killer apps” that gave it an advantage over other civilizations: competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic. But toward the end he acknowledges that other cultures are beginning to download these apps and apply them successfully, while the West appears to be on a trajectory of decline. However, he does not believe that the decline and eventual fall of Western Civilization is inevitable, although he does not suggest how the process may be reversed. He seems to have faith in the West’s power of innovation to deal with almost any problem. Excellent book, as a work of historical, political, cultural, and economic analysis.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/07/19/civilization-the-west-and-the-rest-by-niall-ferguson/
Jul 12 2014
Politics by Aristotle
Aristotle’s politics strike me as rather conservative. He believes some democracy is good, but not too much. The lower classes should be kept firmly in their place, and the upper classes should not have their property rights disturbed. He emphatically does not believe that all men are equal. He believes that education should be a public enterprise and not a private one. Like Plato, he has mixed feelings about music and music education; he believes some forms of music are edifying and others are corrupting. Like many intellectuals he admires Sparta’s repressive system of government from the convenient perspective of a distant observer who does not have to live under it. Like all of Aristotle’s works, this book is pretty dull, but it is one of his more readable treatises. Aristotle’s political philosophy is strikingly conventional; sensible, perhaps, but not terribly exciting, much like his ethics.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/07/12/politics-by-aristotle/
Jun 22 2014
The Korean War by Max Hastings
This is the best book on the subject I have read so far. The author is British and therefore has no patriotic ax to grind about either the motives or the performance of the United States in this war. He acknowledges that Syngman Rhee was a brutal and corrupt dictator who committed numberless atrocities against his own people, but he makes a compelling argument that the regime under Kim Il Sung was far worse, and given the status of North Korea today the argument is hard to refute. The Americans were guilty of ignorance and lack of tactical vision, but Hastings affirms that their motives for fighting the war were sound. Here is his concluding statement: “If the Korean War was a frustrating, profoundly unsatisfactory experience, more than thirty-five years later it still seems a struggle that the West was utterly right to fight.”
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/06/22/the-korean-war-by-max-hastings/
Jun 12 2014
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
This book was so long and so frustrating that for a long time I have wanted to review it just so I could pan it. But I don’t feel that way now. This story has some unusual properties, like a mysterious magical potion made out of seemingly unimpressive ingredients. Kvothe is a character like no other I have encountered in fantasy literature. Like me, he is a perpetual student, but he is far more brilliant and witty and charming than I could ever hope to be. His desire to learn is part pure curiosity, part desire for power. He is precocious, but also self-deprecating, and quite used to things not going his way. Some of the phases of his adventures seem to go on too long, yet his rough-and-tumble journeys are strangely edifying to read about. In some strange way I feel that this book has imparted wisdom and courage to me, even though it’s basically a far out fairy tale. Entertaining, yet also fortifying, as the best stories are.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/06/12/the-wise-mans-fear-by-patrick-rothfuss/
Jun 11 2014
Modern Italy by John Foot
The author takes a thematic rather than a chronological approach to Italian history; I was skeptical at first, but he makes it work. The chief problem he attacks is why Italy never developed as a nation-state the way other European nations did. Italians have supposedly always lacked any sense of nationalism, but the author points out that Fascism is basically ultra-nationalism, and Italy was the first nation to have a Fascist movement and a Fascist regime. The family, the church, and the community rather than the nation however have always claimed the primary loyalty of Italians, and to this day they remain distrustful of the government and even the law enforcement services. There is a considerable outlining of sordid Italian politics in this book that helps one to understand this, but ultimately the book’s central question remains unanswered. This was not an exciting book, but it expanded my knowledge considerably.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/06/11/modern-italy-by-john-foot/
May 12 2014
For Reasons of State by Noam Chomsky
The first four chapters of this book deal with the perceived immorality and injustice of the Vietnam War. By now I am so used to Chomsky’s blame-America-first arguments that I tend to be dismissive of them, but his indictments in this book do make me stop and think. The rest of this book consists of rather abstract discussions of the nature of freedom and the relation of individual freedom to the state. Chapter Seven, which is a refutation of Skinner’s theory of behaviorism, is the most interesting chapter in the book, although it seems somewhat out of place. Chomsky is eloquent and logical but also a bit long-winded and tedious; he is clearly a product of the academic world, and his political ideas are well-intentioned but frankly pure fantasy. Orwell wrote about leftist intellectuals who are free to criticize the establishment and dream up utopias in the secure knowledge that they will never have any real power and therefore will never have any responsibility for governing. Yeah.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/05/12/for-reasons-of-state-by-noam-chomsky/
May 10 2014
On the Good Life by Cicero
Cicero, they say, was a principled and virtuous man who used his oratorical gifts for the good of the state. In these essays, however, I see not so much virtue as the vanity, self-love, and indulgence of an aristocratic gentleman who is highly pleased with his own accomplishments and evidently believes that his achievements and public standing make him an authority on everything. Some of his philosophical ideas are interesting, but they would be more impressive if one felt that Cicero actually practiced them rather than merely regarding them as interesting dinner table conversation. He insists, for instance, that morality is necessary for happiness, and that a good man cannot fail to be happy. His interlocutor asks if a virtuous philosopher being tortured on the rack can be happy. Cicero answers affirmatively, but he is not convincing. His essay on friendship is more praiseworthy, but in all Cicero’s discussion of the good and virtuous life one smells his hypocrisy. Veritas et vanitas.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/05/10/on-the-good-life-by-cicero/
May 07 2014
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
I am by now used to Aristotle’s inimitable dullness, but this is actually one of his more readable and engaging works. What constitutes the good life? Aristotle believes that a happy life is necessarily a virtuous life, something I myself have grave doubts about. Unlike most Americans, he believes virtue is best exercised in the field of politics. He believes virtue is something that should be taught at a young age, by the state if possible, otherwise by the parents. He believes anything in excess is a vice, including humility. Moderation is his formula for virtue in every aspect of life. However, as a true philosopher, he believes the greatest happiness lies in contemplation rather than action. Aristotle’s ethics are obviously not the ethics of a Christian saint; they are rather the code of an aristocratic gentleman who has the leisure to pursue the finer things in life. Yet in many way Aristotelean morality is both more practical and more practicable than Christian morality.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/05/07/the-nicomachean-ethics-by-aristotle/
Apr 18 2014
From Socrates to Sartre by T.Z. Lavine
A survey of six of the important figures of Western philosophy: Plato, Descartes, Hume, Hegel, Marx, and Sartre. This was a delightful book, far more interesting and readable than the works of the philosophers themselves. As anyone who has tried to read Aristotle or Heidegger can attest, concise summaries like this are a much more fruitful and less discouraging approach to studying philosophy than beginning directly with the writings of the great philosophers, many of whom seem perversely enamored of being tedious and impenetrable. The last few chapters on Sartre and existentialism were the most interesting, and the final chapter poses the question of whether analytical philosophy has closed the book on Western philosophy for good. I somehow doubt it.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/04/18/from-socrates-to-sartre-by-t-z-lavine/
Mar 24 2014
The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson
This is a stirring account of the Western Allied invasion of Europe in World War II. It contains memorable quotes and character profiles, and riveting accounts of harrowing combat. But this book made me feel really bad. It was a stark reminder of what a hostile and dangerous place the world is, and also of the fragility and precariousness of human life. Seven hundred and sixty pages of non-stop violence and horror is a bit hard to take. It definitely cured me of any desire to be a hero or experience war myself. The world is a better place because of the young men who fought on the beaches of Normandy and beyond, but I don’t know how much consolation that is to the ones that didn’t make it back. War is a constant throughout history; this book is a useful antidote to mankind’s unfortunate appetite for it.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/03/24/the-guns-at-last-light-by-rick-atkinson/
Al Singh
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Professor X
Robert Maedgen
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The Shire